Victoria bound

Rainbow and the Murray

We left the spectacular Flinders Ranges after only a couple of nights because we needed to get some minor repairs done on the car (split CV boot, driver side, for those who are keeping track), so we threaded our way south through a series of historic and charismatic villages and towns as suggested by the South Australian Tourism brochure we had picked up:

 Hawker - the top of the list of attractions here, according to South Australian Tourism is the visitors centre itself... but it was still a nice spot to stop for morning tea.

It's a big gum tree

Orroroo - where we stopped to see “The Big Gum Tree” which was, of course, a big gum tree, with a trunk 10 metres in circumference, and then we went on a significant detour to experience Magnetic Hill – “ a phenomenon that has to be seen to believed”.  Allegedly here, you can leave your car in neural at the bottom of the hill and it will roll upwards. Perhaps having a tonne of trailer behind us hindered our progress, but we didn’t move an inch uphill. You would have though that the trailer, being made of steel, might have helped, but it seems not.

Peterborough - actually, we accidentally drove right passed Peterborough which was a shame because according to South Australian Tourism it is one of only two places in the southern hemisphere where you can still see three different railway gauges (Broad, Standard and Narrow of course....)

Jamestown – “ a mecca for railway enthusiasts and ecotourists alike” (?!?)

...And finally into the picturesque town of Clare at the head of the Clare Valley wine region – Ahhhh.....

S.A. Tourism hyperbole aside, these towns are filled with marvellous old stone buildings and fascinating histories that make the drive well worth the effort.

We spent a couple of nights in Clare, getting the car fixed and enjoying some of the local produce.  I did feel a bit self conscious entering the civilised world of the Clare Valley with the car and trailer caked in Oodnadatta mud and dust, our clothes not fairing much better and with both kids badly in need of a haircut and doing passable impressions of Stig of the dump.  Didn’t stop us though.  We particularly liked the historic village of Mintaro, complete with a maze, beautiful stone buildings and, most importantly, a fantastic old pub - the intriguingly named Magpie and Stump.

The Murray.  Post rain, Pre Mozzies.

Next up we headed vaguely eastwards, with a plan to follow the Murray into Victoria.  We camped for two nights on the banks of the swollen river in the Murray River National Park.  I’m not really one for rivers. Mountains, oceans, desserts and big red lumps of rock are more my thing, but as we fished and watched the sun go down each evening, I could see why so many are captivated by this particular river.  Until it started to rain.  And then until the rain clouds moved away and the clouds of mosquitoes arrived...

When the mozzies finally had us beat, we headed even further east towards one of our final border crossings of the trip, into Victoria.  This time we were prepared and had not stocked up on piles of fruit and vegetables that we would have to either eat or dispose of at the quarantine stations at the state border (I remember on the morning that we crossed from WA into SA I was worried that the kids would turn a beta-carotene orange from all the raw carrots we made them eat on the way to the border...).  

So a couple of hurriedly scoffed bananas later we were in the Victorian town of Mildura and already seeing road signs for Sydney! (Albeit 1030km’s away).  We were having a bit of a problem with the brakes on the car, and in any case it was due for a service, so for the second time in three days, I took it into a garage and took out my credit card.   I suppose it was only right to have something fixed on the car in Victoria, as we have had had repairs done in every other state we’ve passed through!

No! Not Yet!!

Unfortunately, as I write this we are not spending our first night of the trip in Victoria at all because in our hurry to find a caravan park to drop of the trailer before rushing to the Toyota garage, we headed for the closest one, which happened to be  just across the river.  Without realising it, we have, of course, set up camp in New South Wales!  Three weeks too early!